


Closeness-Distance pendulum, or why Darius is the way he is

by Anonymous



Category: Extracurricular Activities (Visual Novel), No Fandom
Genre: Character Manifesto, Essays, Meta, Meta Essays, Other, why Darius is the way he is, why you should love him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A character manifesto for DyneWulf's Visual Novel Extracurricular Activities, this time focusing on Darius' Maynor, one of the main characters of the game.
Kudos: 2
Collections: Anonymous





	Closeness-Distance pendulum, or why Darius is the way he is

**Author's Note:**

> My references for some of the things I say, whether thematically or literally:
> 
> Contrapoints, Incels.  
> Contrapoints, The Aesthetic.  
> Innuendo Studio's series of Gamergate.  
> Contrapoints, Transtrenders.  
> Tiffany Ferguson's videos on Hookup culture and Dating apps.
> 
> And many more to add, if there's anything else I should add, let me know.

This analysis, made with the intention of creating a manifesto for my favorite character in Extracurricular Activities, is personal opinion (Headcanon) mixed with a few lines of text (Canon). It doesn't have to be accurate with Canon, but some things can be speculated upon, given the place in the chronology of the characters' lives this story has.

All in all, it's made with the purpose of enjoying myself, and sharing my love for this particularly complex character (all of them have some sort of complexity to them, but Darius, in particular, has the sort of traits that I find interesting in a character).

Ok, after that long-ish introduction, I should explain who I am? Or not? Well, it doesn't matter. This is my manifesto, I get to do what I want. 

I'm Nobu. I've been reading the VN Extracurricular Activities for a while, found it between January and February of this year, approximately, and I've been part of the fandom ever since that day. While I do love the characters (all of them are best man), one in particular caught my eye, and not because of their appearance alone! 

Darius Maynor. This lion is flirty as hell, always looking for a way to find an individual with an XY chromosome (I apologize for the binary language, since there aren't any non-binary characters in the story, nor are they acknowledged by the cast in any sort of way) and that's willing to have sex with him. Yet, he seems to hide an amazing ability with piano and is a stunt double, to boot.

Who is he? And why does he behave in the way he does in the story? Does he believe in love? 

Those questions were (well, they weren't AT FIRST) what I asked myself when reading his lines in Grifter's route (which incidentally, was my first route), and then I became hooked on his personality and conflict over the closeness-distance pendulum of social interactions. 

You might think I sound crazy while reading this, and I don't blame you, if all you see is a perverted man who only cares about dick/ass. It definitely IS a big part of Darius's personality, but it's far from the only one. Also, as dashing as he pretends to be, he's NOT a perfect man, far from it, really. 

If you want to understand a bit more about him, do feel free to read, if you don't want to (whether it's because I'm an annoyance because I like him, or because my tone sounds like one of an "SJW" [I hate that term, by the way, you can see why with my usage of quotes there] looking to have perfect representation, or an annoying fan trying to persuade you to my side of the Spencer-Darius warzone [I mean, not that I'm not _trying_ to, but I'm definitely not looking to make you think like me, this is only a short essay about Maynor), then please click the back button.

Okay, okay. I always overexplain myself and delay the actual juice of this meta, which is analysing Darius as a character.

* * *

Questions I'll try to answer in this manifesto, in chapters:

1\. Why I love Darius. Love and Lust as a spectrum of attraction and knowledge of other people.  
1\. 1. Does he believe in love? What does he think about it?  
1\. 1. 2. Why is he so... Slutty?  
2\. Sex as a bargaining chip to know other people.  
3\. Darius in other routes.  
4\. Darius in his own route. Or better titled: Best Friends: why does Darius use that phrasing.

Those are the questions I want to answer for now. If any of you want me to analyze a bigger aspect of Darius' character or framing in scenes, tell me about it in the comments, and I'll go and write it up!

* * *

Okay, after setting my framework for my analysis, and detailing who I am and what's my story and reasons to do this, I think I should explain why I love this character and what drives me to analyze him.

You see, Darius is a pervert. That's a basic fact. Well, pervert seems like a harsh word someone blunt would say about his first impression if you're a man (which they aren't wrong about), but I find that saying Darius's way of seeing people (and interacting with them), in a better phrasing, his "social scripts", are firmly centered around sex. It's not necessarily an issue of being gay, but rather, the way he has been growing up. 

I could assume many things about Darius's upbringing, but I will remain brief about them, due to the Work-in-Progress nature of the novel, which means things might get retconned and maybe what I had before won't work in the future.

So, as a short list, we have:

1\. Darius wasn't as close with his parents, so he turned to his grandparents for guidance/care.  
2\. Darius is only close to his sister, but he remains at a distance with her and his brother due to their career choices.  
3\. He's the black sheep of the family, not only because he's gay, there's also his career choice (not business degrees), that alienate him from the rest.  
4\. His uncle (who was also gay/queer) died of an STD (I still don't remember if it was AIDS or if it was something else, so please correct me in the comments).  
5\. His father found out about him being gay by walking on him giving a blowjob for a friend. He mentions that he hasn't heard him roar that loud in any other moment except that.

So! We have many interesting things here, beginning with his dysfunctional, but not outright abusive family. I like to think that they DO care, but they don't have the emotional maturity/bandwidth to deal with him. Having a gay/queer child is no different for a parent to deal with, yet many resources like education have to be adapted for their needs (as an example, some issues remain deep in the gay community, which are some of the topics a parent should discuss with their children, even more if it's a son). For example, the rampant hookup culture gets even worse when it comes to gay men, due to the fact that (theories are varied, but I'll go with this one since it fits Darius to a "T") gay men are constantly told their way to love, to have sex, to live, to enjoy is gross and dangerous to children. And so, they have to lose access to things like sexual education (really important to have) that's specifically made to their needs, fictional outlets which aren't completely stereotypical in nature (complete with the gay cop trope that's harmful thanks to the troubled relationship with the queer/LGBT+ community) and more things.

This means Darius had to grow up finding things out for himself, with very few verified ways of learning about love and sex. Of course he knows about love, but straight love is different than gay love, Darius thinks. One, I can see everywhere, but the other one is forbidden, "dirty", in some way.

This sort of thinking is "mental colonization", a way in which the majority of the population implants harmful ideas into marginalized groups, and intoxicates their thinking patterns. Darius, in this context, had to grow up thinking that he can't love, that he shouldn't love, even if it means to live hiding a part of him before risking it.

Which explains his lack of experience in love (actual love that's between two queer people, not based on straight people's perceptions of queer love). He's definitely a flawed man who's trying to reach and connect to people, but he doesn't know **how** if it doesn't involve sex as an important part of that relationship. 

He's defining himself by how attractive he is, which is a big part of his identity. Have you seen the shallowness of the gay community? That's definitely an influence in Darius's life before going to high-school (as a personal opinion). He thinks he has to be muscular, attractive, dashing, charming, a heartbreaker. Because both ideas of manliness (being straight-acting and being a charming prince at the same time) conflict a lot of the time. Because one can't be the other, and yet he tries his darnedest to keep both with him.

It's a mask, in some ways. He definitely has a bit of the seductive man that we see in his route, but there's also a broken man who's trying to avoid talking about his own feelings because that implies closeness to someone else (and why risk it when that could mean heartbreak and pain, and showing yourself in a world that doesn't want you). Darius wants both closeness (the ability to feel the other person with him, at any moment) and distance (having boundaries that are bigger than what the relationship suggests).

He's fighting against himself and what he wants (to be loved, to be desired, to be understood) at the same time as what he is right now (a man that's always breaking someone's heart, popular with the guys, and some ladies, even if they're not his thing. A man that's supposed to be above it all, just like Spencer, in some way).

Darius defines himself by his ability to attract other men (depending on their validation, somewhat) because his own worldview depends on it. He's definitely insecure (but decides not to show it outwardly). This can be seen in his 26th day of his route, where he shows insecurities over his appearance.

In my opinion, that's one of the few vulnerable moments that show how Darius depends too much on the rest of the world's opinion to define himself. Because, if he isn't attractive or interesting, then... Who is he?

Showing his talents? Huh. Like that's gonna happen at any moment. His Gran might smite him on the spot for that. And what about his smarts? That's useless if you're ugly. You **have** to look good, because that's what the actors look like, and what's expected of him. Or else...

That "or else" is pretty scary for him, but he can't place why.

Sex is a big part of his character, not because he's just a pervert, but there's a second component to it, too. He wants validation, closeness. A simulacrum of something that should be romantic, but it isn't. Which is why Spencer's and Darius's rivalry is so interesting to me. They both have a bit of a complex when it comes to sex (Spencer being hypersexualized because of his job but having a really conservative opinion of sex and love [reserved to the one™] and Darius because he places his entire sense of self-worth in being attractive, but he has a pretty healthy [debatable at some points, like in Spencer's route, but that's not a wound I'm dwelling upon] viewpoint of sex [that it doesn't have to be only for one person, so long as the parties consent and are interested in each other, or willing to try]. 

When they clash, their feelings are hurt somehow. Spencer because his past with Darius is coming back with a vengeance (Darius brushes over his feelings and "leads him on", which isn't healthy, at all. If Spencer's words are to be believed), and Darius because his entire self is into question (you can compare it to the example people use when they feel personally responsible for other people's life choices: the alcohol debacle. If you refuse to take an alcoholic drink at a party, one of the most likely things to happen is that you'll get insulted, or maybe punched in the face, who knows? But people take offense to rejection of alcohol, not because you insulted them, but because their brains are starting to have an argument [noise]. When they reach that stage, their brains are debating the validity of their choices, which is a good thing to do, but the moment and the place aren't adequate, and they get overly defensive, not because they're right, but because _what if_ they were right? That's not an easy pill to swallow).

Anyways, this division between love and sex is part of the struggle of Darius's route, and I shall speak more about it when I'm done writing the next parts! So, for now, feel free to stay tuned and interact with me! Correct me if I'm wrong, ask questions and more, this manifesto has been brought to you for this reason.

All in all, I'll take a rest for now. Nobu out.


End file.
